The present invention is directed to an occupant classification system and a method for classifying an occupant in a vehicle seat. In particular, at least one embodiment of the invention is directed to the classification of occupants located in a motor vehicle seat. In particular, the system and method is directed to classifying the type of occupant located in the vehicle seat and controlling the deployment of an occupant restraint system (e.g., an airbag or seat belt) accordingly.
The following U.S. patents (all incorporated by reference herein) disclose various acceleration and variation based occupant sensing and classification systems: U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,438,477; 6,246,936; 6,542,802; 6,161,439; and 6,259,167.
Current occupant classification systems (OCS) do not include the capability to detect and flag interfering objects. Such objects usually affect the output of the occupant classification module and cause an improper occupant classification to be made.
Due to interfering objects, conventional occupant classification systems may incorrectly classify the type of occupant or object located in a vehicle seat. As a result, the performance of a corresponding occupant restraint system may be adversely affected. Therefore, a system and method is needed to determine whether interference is influencing the occupant detection system.